Press Releases

NEW COMPANY TO PROVIDE AFFORDABLE ACCESS TO IP/ETHERNET-BASED BROADBAND SERVICES

Salira's next-generation systems combine Ethernet with optics to deliver breakthroughs in carrier equipment efficiency and affordability.

San Jose, CA May 23, 2001
Addressing the need for carriers to provide affordable, high-speed access to the Internet, Salira Optical Network Systems, Inc. debuted today. Led by a highly-credentialed team experienced in delivering carrier-class products, Salira will develop systems that combine the simplicity and popularity of Ethernet with the power of optics to provide the first carrier-class, IP/Ethernet optical solution for high-speed Internet access.

"By extending Passive Optical Networks (PONs) to Gigabit Ethernet, the Salira system fills a need for carriers to deliver cost-effective and fast Internet access," said Marian Stasney, senior analyst at the Yankee Group. "The Salira solution goes beyond the standard EPON offering by adding intelligence at both the customer and service provider ends, enabling flexible and customizable SLA reporting at each node. The Salira team has designed an IP/Ethernet optical system that service providers will find attractive as they build out their existing infrastructures to generate additional revenues from voice, video and data services."

Salira's systems represent order-of-magnitude improvements in affordability, performance, scalability and flexibility. Salira's fiber-fast access products are expected to dramatically reduce equipment costs to less than $500 per user, while the point-to-multipoint architecture will ensure equipment scalability for carrier networks. In addition, Salira's systems will provide maximum flexibility by enabling carriers to easily provision new, personalized value-added voice, video and data services. The products are expected to be in customer trials with carriers by the second-half of this year.

Heading up Salira are executives and technologists with an unmatched pedigree from the leading networking, access equipment and service provider companies that have fundamentally shaped the development of the Internet. The team is led by Chairman of the Board David House, renowned for his leadership at Intel, Bay Networks, Nortel Networks and most recently Allegro Networks; CEO Herb Martin, an early IP pioneer and a seasoned executive of both start-up and public companies such as Ericsson, ESS Technology, Onyx and The Wollongong Group; and CTO and Co-Founder Wei Gao, a veteran of Nortel's Bell Northern Research unit and developer of the first OC-192/SONET product.

"The infrastructure that makes up the Internet today is basically flawed - technical and economic barriers impede access for the vast majority of users whose options have been limited to DSL and broadband cable. Neither approach was ever meant for mass usage. This is made even more frustrating because the speed and the capacity everyone wants is there for the taking," said Herb Martin, Salira's president and CEO.

"At Salira, we're solving this with an approach suited to the whole problem of delivering affordable, virtually instant access for millions of users to the fiber-optic cable already in place. We're excited and confident that a solution is, at last, at hand. We intend to deliver nothing less than 'the missing link of the Internet Age.'"

The Salira System: Designed From-the-Ground-Up to Combine IP/Ethernet Plus Optics

Unlike current offerings, Salira is designing a system from the ground up to accommodate IP/Ethernet, the format in which virtually all data traffic originates. The Salira technical team has already developed a number of IP/Ethernet patent-pending technologies that will comprise its new system.